Merck KGaA Posted September 6, 2026

Principal Project Engineer

Lenexa, Kansas, United States FULL_TIME
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Merck KGaA is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Work Your Magic with us!  Start your next chapter and join MilliporeSigma.

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.

This role does not offer sponsorship for work authorization. External applicants must be eligible to work in the US.

Your Role:

As a Principal Project Engineer at the Lenexa, KS site, you will lead key projects related to the design, qualification, and optimization of the cell culture media manufacturing equipment and facilities to ensure safe, compliant, and scalable production of high-quality media for biopharmaceutical applications.

This includes technical project management for both capital projects and process improvements. You will develop project scope and ensure seamless implementation of the most efficient, viable technical solution in alignment with internal standards. You will collaborate with process engineering, manufacturing, quality, EHS, and maintenance to ensure robust design, commissioning, qualification, and operational readiness.

Additionally, you will drive project timing, budget, and risk management, and prepare and present status reports to leadership and stakeholders. You will ensure adherence to data integrity and change-control practices, owning the engineering change process, and you will mentor engineers and cross-functional teams to foster a culture of safety, quality, and continuous improvement. You will identify and implement cost-saving opportunities, technology upgrades, and energy/water efficiency improvements, and ensure facilities and equipment meet regulatory and MilliporeSigma corporate standards for cell culture media manufacturing operations.

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications:

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Chemical, Biochemical, Mechanical, or Biomedical Engineering (or a closely related field); Master’s degree preferred

5+ years of professional engineering experience

Experience managing projects over $1M

Preferred Qualifications:

Technical competencies: Experience with validation strategies (IQ/OQ/PQ) and commissioning/ qualification activities; familiarity with automation concepts, sensors, control systems, data integrity, and change control.

Skills: Proven project management and leadership capabilities; ability to influence across functions; excellent problem-solving, risk assessment, and decision-making skills; strong communication and technical writing abilities

Experience in medical, biotechnology, or Bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing environment is highly preferred

PMP certification preferred

Pay Range for this position: $106,500 - $172,900

The offer range represents the anticipated low and high end of the base pay compensation for this position. The actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, level of experience, education, skills, and other job-related factors. Position may be eligible for sales or performance-based bonuses. Benefits offered by the Company include health insurance, paid time off (PTO), retirement contributions, and other perquisites. For more information click here .

What we offer: We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe that this variety drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress!

Apply now and become a part of a team that is dedicated to Sparking Discovery and Elevating Humanity!

Job details

Seniority
Principal
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Lenexa, Kansas, United States
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 489 comparable Principal Manufacturing & CMC roles across 83 biopharma companies.

489Comparable roles tracked
461Currently active
83Companies hiring similar roles
33Countries represented

Salary context

191 of 489 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject $106,500/yr – $172,900/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Technician Calibration - Maintenance · Mylan Technologies, Inc. $37,000/yr – $80,000/yr
Peer group range $58,500 – $288,000 (median $150,600)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 489 comparable roles

United States307
India40
Ireland22
Netherlands18
United Kingdom10
Singapore9

+ 27 more countries

Seniority mix

489 of 489 peers have a known seniority level

Senior323
Principal87
Director79

Therapeutic area mix

3 of 489 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology2
Dermatology & Aesthetics1

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The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

60%similar
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AbbVie Pleasanton, CA Principal
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Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Principal
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60%similar
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Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

60%
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Renss, United States · Principal
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Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Principal
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Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.